We keep on going with the coverage of our 5th Custom Contest, which had “America” as the theme, so only castings portraying cars from this region were allowed to participate. This time we have the Modified class, which allows much more extensive alterations to the car’s body compared with the two previous classes, on top of the usual wheelswapping, general detailing, etcetera.

As stated in our rulebook, every class was judged under the principle that the participating customs had to stick to the contest’s theme. Having said that, we leave you with the entries for this class and their customizers. Down bellow you’ll find the winners of the first three places, with a small photoshoot of each, as well as commentary from our judges regarding why they won.

Judges comment: Angel found this Biscayne in truly sad shape, without a front grille and with a hole in the hood, as is usual with several Racing Champions castings that sport a humongous engine poking trough the bonnet. Even so, Angel set out to bring it back to life as a tribute to the golden years of NASCAR racing, in which the cars that raced in the ovals were basically the same that the public could go buy in the nearest dealer. That is why the car retains most of its stock interior, including the bench seat, and only has a very basic rollcage inside. The livery, crafted with model kit decals, doesn’t try to replicate an existing car, but rather honor one of the best eras in NASCAR, which it does almost to perfection… if the tires weren’t so low profile, it would be practically impossible to get better.

Judges comment: Edwin bagged second place in class with a replica of the star car of an obscure made-for-tv movie from 1990 called ‘Wheels of Terror’, in which a 74 Charger terrorizes a small town in Arizona. The work Edwin performed in the front os the car is nothing short of phenomenal, and we sincerely can’t really make out how he did it, but he managed to make it look exactly like the car in the movie, whose front end has been severely modified to make it look “meaner”. The weathering in the entire car is also quite well achieved. Even if the work on this custom is top notch, its concept and movie-car origin –albeit an almost unknown movie- relegated it to second place.

Judges comment: The regular Custom Diecast México reader won’t be surprised to see that Roa participated with a fender-flared car; but this time, he decided to apply a very japanese style that’s part of the traditional bosozoku trend that’s all the rage right now, the Yankii Style, to an American car. This style is characterized by bright colors, the classic exposed oil cooler, and wide fender flares that aren’t quite as extreme as other styles such as the Grachan.

Roa plastered all these elements in a basically perfect manner to a car that is an absolute alien to Japanese car culture: the Dodge Demon. The result is absolutely amazing, with details like the mentioned oil cooler, the fender flares and ducktail spoiler made with epoxy putty, the custom rolling stock, and the most correct detail of them all regarding the style of the car: the lack of rear bumper and the twin vertical exhaust, turn this car from a Demon to an authentic Gaijin. Seeing this car makes us wonder why hasn’t anyone done this with a 1:1 Demon.